Music Review: Twisted Sister live, loud and proud

November 19, 2008 5:54:54 PM PST

November 19, 2008 --

Twisted Sister "Live At The Astoria" While they scored big in the 1980s with a pair of radio-friendly anthems, "We're Not Gonna Take It" and "I Wanna Rock," Twisted Sister has always been a live band at heart. From the bars of Long Island in the early '70s to theaters and clubs around the world today, the metal quintet has always been at its best on the concert stage.

"Live At The Astoria" is the band's third live album, and by far the best. The 2-disc CD and DVD combo captures the Aug. 1, 2004 show at the Astoria Theatre in London - a concert that band members unanimously list as one of the best out of more than 9,000 they've played so far.

From the opening sledgehammer riffs of "What You Don't Know" to the closing anthem "S.M.F.," these discs show just how fierce and intense Twisted Sister has always been onstage, not to mention how many different ways lead singer Dee Snider can use the F-word.

The sound quality on the CD is amazing, down to the tinny shimmer of cymbals long after each time drummer A.J. Pero bashes them. The twin guitar attack of Jay Jay French and Eddie Ojeda is surgically sharp, and Mark "The Animal" Mendoza's bass riffs can loosen phlegm in your chest.

But the real treat here is the DVD, edited by a Twisted Sister fan from England who captured the feel of being down in front of the stage, with close-ups and stage-angle shots that lend an intimacy to the mayhem.

For anyone who missed out on the band in their '80s heyday, or "back in the day," as Snider calls it, "Live At The Astoria" proves that Twisted Sister remains one of the best live bands in rock.